England AAR: The High Value Service Economy

by LionofLeeds1988

Let’s Play Europa Universalis IV

Henry VI of LANCASTER. One of the most underrated monarchs in the game. Typical Jack-the-Lad from north of Coventry done down by people who move to London. Probably got rejected from Oxford for not knowing what ‘polemic’ means.

We have some urgent tasks to crack on with, like the paucity of Parliamentary representation.

Much better.

The essential thing about Europa Universalis IV is how you use your monarch points.

Some might say that we should use our monarch points to research new technologies, this is because they think we are an “industrial country” trying to “win the game”

Instead, lets use our points for what they’re for, levelling up our provinces so people get benefits they can see in the real world, building a modern high-value service economy in the natural Hubs of Sheffield and Doncaster. Our strategy will be to put all of our monarch points into provincial development, and use the ensuring institution spread to make up for any technological backwardsness.

We are the most centralised country in the World. Time to ramp up that sweet, sweet provincial autonomy. China, France… do you think any of those places forged a successful industrial strategy without Metro Mayors and Combined Local Authorities?

We’re start the game transferring trade from the North Sea to collect it in the Channel; and it would be better to make it the other way round. Yes, the Channel is one of 4 in-game trade nodes with zero outflow. But, I seriously doubt this will benefit the strong service sector we are building. Its just what Thatcher did to the miners, after all.

Desperate to find some ‘commitments’ for the Northern Powerhouse.

There are many useful bonuses we could get using the Parliament mechanic

But these gimmicks aren’t what they’re talking about in the Old Shoe and Whisker, what are they talking about? Integration. Tackling the causes of extremism. In, often, ferociously passionate terms. We’ll just have to find the foreign cultures to convert later.

Err…

Workable, as the Great and Powerful Dr. Newport shows, real politics is about compromise.

I almost forgot to Engage the Stakeholders.

Now that we’ve put the ghosts of Treasury Brain to rest, it is time to let regional England rip.

We can’t actually build anything useful with our current tech… but does this really matter? London starts the game with a castle, I don’t really see why we shouldn’t build three of them, at 200 a pop, next to each other, in the North.

And we certainly aren’t going to be getting to Admin Tech 4 for a while.

Well, all those scoffers in London, have egg on their face now – our newly redeveloped provinces are so successful, everyone wants a piece of them.

Well, what did you think was going to happen?

Looking for more pointless things to spend money on, unfortunately, our current batch of admin advisors are a bit London-centric.

Leicester, well, it ain’t Whitby but I guess it will have to do.

Normally, I’d jump at the chance to Lock Down over a Plague… but Sussex… really? We’ll just let them sort themselves out.

We’ll be drowning in local goods from elsewhere soon enough.

Just when it looked like Key Stakeholders were Losing Trust, we get an event to Engage to the maximum level. Get in!

Cede Maine to France early in the game, look, some Imperial headbangers might be a bit red faced over this Chagos stuff but I’ve asked the lads in the pub, and they don’t even know what Maine is.

And thank God for that, with the ‘Wars of the Roses’ safely consigned to alt-history, we can get back to the business of ruining the country by our own devices.

Five years into the game and our Crossrail Network of Northern Forts have come online, linking Leeds to Manchester with one 9.00 ducats per month network of Impressive Fortifications. Yep, it’ll be expensive. Yep, it will be unpopular. But you have to keep people safe… I mean, what’s the alternative? We build houses in London and people simply move there?

We’re a wealthy country. We can afford this.

So far, the search for foreign Commitments has been scanty, Byzantium declining the offer of a Security Umbrella against Mehmed’s mates; frankly, I’d prefer something further afield but these monarch points are needed for the bottomless holes of provincial development. I’m fairly bullish on our chances, most opinion polling says Nick, 30 ans, strongly disapproves of Castille. Should be a cake-walk.